Domestic appliance with telescopic pull-out means

ABSTRACT

A cabinet-like domestic appliance having a carcass and a door to enclose an interior, and a telescopic pull-out assembly installed in the interior, wherein the telescopic pull-out assembly has at least one rail that is movable in a depthwise direction of the interior. The rail bears a lug that is made of ferromagnetic material and that faces toward a rear wall of the interior. A magnet is mounted on the rear wall of the interior, wherein, in a retracted stop position of the telescopic pull-out assembly, the lug is subjected to the attractive magnetic force of the magnet.

The invention relates to a cabinet-like domestic appliance, for example a refrigeration appliance, having a telescopic pull-out means which is configured for supporting a built-in part such as e.g. a pull-out drawer.

Domestic appliances of said kind typically comprise a basic structure or carcass which encloses an interior, and a door which can be opened in order to introduce and remove goods that are to be stored in the domestic appliance, foodstuffs for example. In commercially available domestic appliances of this type pull-out drawers are often provided in which the goods can be stored in a clearly organized manner. For more convenient handling of a pull-out drawer the latter is mounted on telescopic shelves on which the pull-out drawer can be withdrawn from the interior when the door is open and can be pushed back in again after the goods have been placed in or taken out. For reasons of comfort it is important in this arrangement for the pull-out drawer to be capable of being withdrawn or inserted in as free-running a manner as possible. This can make it necessary to fix the pull-out drawer in the inserted position in order to ensure correct operation of the domestic appliance.

In the non-prepublished German patent application 10 2007 021 575.6 there is proposed for this purpose a magnetic arrangement which consists of a magnet mounted on a rear wall of the interior at the level of the pull-out drawer and a ferromagnetic component on a back wall of the pull-out drawer and which in the inserted state of the pull-out drawer holds the pull-out drawer firmly in a stop position at the rear wall. When the pull-out drawer is being withdrawn a user of the appliance must overcome the holding force of the magnet, and when the pull-out drawer is being inserted the magnetic force comes into effect as of a certain insertion position, with the result that the pull-out drawer is retracted fully and as far as the stop position without further action on the part of the user.

According to said proposal the elements of the magnetic arrangement on the rear wall of the interior and on the back of the pull-out drawer are installed separately. This requires assembly effort involving different component parts of the domestic appliance.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to disclose a solution for positioning a pull-out drawer or another movable built-in part at a stop position which makes do with a small number of component parts and is easy to install.

The object is achieved in that in the case of a cabinet-like domestic appliance having a carcass and a door which enclose an interior and having a telescopic pull-out means installed in the interior and comprising at least one rail which is movable in the depthwise direction of the interior and which bears a lug facing toward a rear wall of the interior and made of ferromagnetic material, wherein in a retracted stop position of the telescopic pull-out means the lug is subjected to an attractive magnetic force of a magnet mounted on the rear wall. Thus, the telescopic pull-out means itself can interact with the magnet in order to be fixed in a stop position and no further component part is required.

The lug is preferably embodied as a single part with the rail itself or with a cover panel of the rail.

The lug disposed adjacent to one end of the rail can in this case improve the magnetic effect in that the lug is offset at an angle from the rail or its cover panel and consequently offers a greater surface area to the magnet than would be the case by means of an end of the rail without lug. Adapting the pull-out drawer or built-in part to the magnetic fixing is not necessary. Furthermore, tolerances for the placing of the pull-out drawer or built-in part on the telescopic pull-out means do not influence the effectiveness of the magnetic arrangement.

For comfortable handling of the telescopic pull-out means it is advantageous if the lug is separated from the magnet in the stop position by means of an airgap. In this way it is possible to prevent the lug from striking hard against the magnet when the stop position is reached, with the result that a user will not notice any annoying noise.

This can be achieved particularly easily if the telescopic pull-out means includes an elastic buffer limiting the freedom of movement of the rail. By integrating the buffer into the telescopic pull-out means there is no need to use a separate spacer, but instead the stop position can be delimited by the telescopic pull-out means itself and be softly cushioned by means of the elastic buffer at the end of the path.

If the lug projects beyond a back of the pull-out drawer toward the rear wall, it can advantageously be ensured that there is a space separating the pull-out drawer from the rear wall, thereby enabling air to circulate in the interior of the domestic appliance.

A preferred area of application of the invention is a pull-out drawer which is arranged in a manner known per se in the interior of the domestic appliance underneath an icemaker in order to collect ice produced by the icemaker. It is necessary in particular for the operation of an icemaker that a collecting tray of the icemaker is inserted into a stop position, since otherwise ice cubes produced by the icemaker would find their way into the interior of the domestic appliance instead of into the collecting tray and introduce undesirable moisture into the goods stored there due to melt water from the ice cubes.

In particular when the operation of the icemaker is controlled by means of a switch actuated by the pull-out drawer it can be prevented by means of the solution according to the invention that the switch will unintentionally not be activated if the collecting tray is not inserted into the stop position, and consequently the icemaker will not be switched on and no ice will be produced.

Further features and advantages of the invention will emerge from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a view of a pull-out drawer mounted on telescopic pull-out means according to the invention disposed underneath an icemaker;

FIG. 2 shows a view of a rear end of a telescopic pull-out means having a magnet attracting the pull-out means, seen from an inner surface;

FIG. 3 shows a horizontal section through a telescopic pull-out means in a plane A-A from FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 shows a vertical section through a telescopic pull-out means in a plane corresponding to the plane B-B from FIG. 3 according to a further embodiment of the invention.

The diagram in FIG. 1 shows a partial view of an interior of a domestic appliance, a sidewall of the domestic appliance not being shown for clarity of illustration reasons. The domestic appliance is a refrigeration appliance which has a heat-insulating carcass delimiting an interior and can be closed by means of a door at a front side. The interior of the refrigeration appliance is delimited at a back side by means of a rear wall 3.

Disposed in the interior is a pull-out drawer 1 which is held on two sides by telescopic pull-out means 2 supported on sidewalls of the carcass. The following statements describe only one of the two telescopic pull-out means 2, though it is clear to a person skilled in the art that the features described also apply to the second telescopic pull-out means 2.

The telescopic pull-out means 2 comprises two metal rails 21, 22 which are arranged in interlinked fashion in a manner typical for telescopic pull-out means and which can be moved toward one another in the longitudinal direction. In this arrangement the second rail 22 is fixedly connected to the sidewall of the carcass and the first rail 21 can be withdrawn out of the interior toward the front. The telescopic pull-out means 2 further comprises a cover panel 27 connected to the rail 21 and consisting of ferromagnetic material; said cover panel 27 encloses the rails 21, 22 on a side facing away from the sidewall of the interior as well as on a top side and underside of the telescopic pull-out means 2 and conceals the rails 21, 22 from a user of the refrigeration appliance.

The telescopic pull-out means 2 additionally includes two adapters 8 which are molded from plastic and each of which is fitted and snapped into place on the rail 21 like a slider penetrating through an opening (not shown) of the cover panel 27 and which serve to secure the pull-out drawer 1 to the telescopic pull-out means 2 in a manner described in greater detail below.

At a front end of the telescopic pull-out means 2 facing toward the front side of the refrigeration appliance the telescopic pull-out means 2 has a cover 28 in the form of a vertically elongate plastic molded part which conceals the front end of the telescopic pull-out means 2 from a user.

The pull-out drawer 1 is arranged beneath an icemaker 5 in order to catch ice cubes produced by the icemaker 5 and has the shape of a rectangular tray. At a top edge of a sidewall delimiting the pull-out drawer 1 at the side there projects an edge bead 11 which engages from above into the adapters 8 such that when the pull-out drawer 1 is withdrawn the first rail 21 of the telescopic pull-out means 2 is moved together with the cover panel 27.

A magnet 4 is attached to the rear wall 3 at the same level as the cover panel 27, the magnet 4 being enclosed in an approximately rectangular waterproof housing. In the illustration of FIG. 1 the magnet 4 is largely hidden by the telescopic pull-out means 2; it can be seen more clearly in FIG. 2. The magnet 4 is embodied to exert an attractive force on a rear end of the cover panel 27 facing toward the rear wall and thereby hold the telescopic pull-out means 2 firmly in a retracted stop position. As the magnified view in FIG. 2 shows, the rear end of the cover panel 27 is formed by means of a lug 23 offset at right angles from an inside face of the cover panel 27, which lug 23 is arranged parallel to the rear wall 3 and comes to rest at a small, but not infinitesimal distance in front of the magnet 4 when the telescopic pull-out means is located in the retracted stop position.

When the telescopic pull-out means is in the retracted stop position, a rear end of the first rail 21 facing the rear wall 3 projects toward the rear wall 3 beyond a back wall of the pull-out drawer 1, such that the pull-out drawer 1 is always at a distance from the rear wall 3.

A switch 6 arranged in a region facing toward the rear wall 3 underneath the icemaker 5 is actuated by means of a back wall of the pull-out drawer 1 and switches on the icemaker 5 precisely when the telescopic pull-out means 2 is in its retracted stop position and consequently when the pull-out drawer 1 is fully inserted.

The arrangement of the magnet 4 on the rear wall 3 can vary according to the spatial circumstances and can also be turned at right angles to the arrangement shown here.

Further details of the adapter 8 are shown in addition in FIG. 2. The adapter 8 has an essentially cuboid-shaped main body and a face adjoining downward on one side of the main body which is in surface-to-surface contact with an inner face of the cover panel 27. The adapter 8 is held in its position on the cover panel 27 by means of a clamping lug 83 engaging in the rail 21 disposed thereunder through an opening in the cover panel 27.

On a narrow side facing toward the door of the refrigeration appliance the main body of the adapter 8 has a narrow vertical groove 81 enclosed by lead-in chamfers 84, and on an opposite narrow side facing toward the rear wall 3 has a cutout 82 taking up almost the entire width of the narrow side. Since the face of the adapter 8 with the clamping lug 83 must always butt against an inner face of the cover panel 27, in the case of the adapter 8 mounted on the second telescopic pull-out means 2 (not shown) on the opposite sidewall of the refrigeration appliance the narrow groove 81 faces toward the rear wall 3 and the wide cutout 82 faces toward the door. The function of the groove 81 and the cutout 82 is explained later with reference to FIG. 4.

FIG. 3 shows a horizontal section through the telescopic pull-out means 2 and the adjacent magnet 4 in a plane A-A designated by A-A in FIG. 2. The rails 21, 22 delimit an elongate interspace, extending in the pull-out direction, into which an elastic buffer 25 of the rail 21 and two studs 26 sticking out from the rail 22 engage. The two studs 26 delimit the freedom of movement of the buffer 25 and hence also of the rail 21. They are placed in such a way that in the retracted stop position of the telescopic pull-out means 2 defined by the contact of the buffer 25 with the rearmost of the two studs 26, as shown in FIG. 3, an airgap 24 remains between the lug 23 and the magnet 4. The width of the airgap 24 is dimensioned such that the magnet 4 strongly attracts the lug 23 yet at the same time a collision of the two that would cause annoying noises is reliably avoided.

The frontmost of the two studs 26 is placed at a sufficient distance from the front end of the rail 22 in order to ensure that in the withdrawn stop position of the pull-out means 2 defined by the contact of said stud 26 with the buffer 25 the rails 21, 22 overlap far enough to guide the rail 21 in a reliable manner.

The safety switch 6 is mounted adjacent to the magnet 4 on the rear wall 3. A button 61 of the switch 6 is shown in the extended (“off”) position. In this position the switch 61 prevents operation of the icemaker 5. The icemaker 5 can only be put into operation when the button is pressed in through contact with the back of the pull-out drawer 1 against a return spring (not shown). The force that the magnet 4 exerts onto the lug 23 across the airgap 24 is greater than the restoring force of the spring, such that the latter cannot displace the pull-out drawer 1 from its stop position.

FIG. 4 shows two telescopic pull-out means 2 carrying a pull-out drawer 1 according to a second embodiment of the invention in a section along a vertical plane corresponding to the plane B-B from FIG. 3. For better clarity of illustration the pull-out drawer 1 is shown not yet mounted onto the telescopic pull-out means.

This second embodiment differs from that depicted in FIGS. 1 to 3 in that each of the telescopic pull-out means comprises two identically constructed pairs of rails 21, 22, with the moving rail 21 of the rail pair adjacent to the sidewall 7 being fixedly connected in each case to the rail 22 of the rail pair facing away from the sidewall 7. In this way a doubling of the freedom of movement of the pull-out drawer 1 is achieved.

The adapters 8 are in each case mounted on the cover panel 27; in the case of the adapter 8 shown on the right as seen by the observer the narrow groove 81 is directed toward the front as in FIG. 2 and in the case of the adapter 8 shown on the left the cutout 82 faces toward the front. Ribs 12 projecting vertically downward and running parallel to a side edge of the pull-out drawer 1 are formed under the edge bead 11 on both sides of the pull-out drawer 1. When the pull-out drawer 1 is mounted onto the telescopic pull-out means 2 said ribs 12 engage from above into the groove 81 and the cutout 82 and thereby anchor the pull-out drawer 1 in place on the telescopic pull-out means 2. The position of the tray in the widthwise direction is exactly defined by the engagement of the right-hand rib 12 in the groove 81; the left-hand rib 12 engages with a clearance fit in the cutout 82 to allow manufacturing tolerances and displacements due to different coefficients of thermal expansion of the materials used to be compensated. 

1-9. (canceled)
 10. A cabinet-like domestic appliance, comprising: a carcass; a door to enclose, together with the carcass, an interior having a rear wall; a telescopic pull-out assembly installed in the interior and having at least one rail that is movable in a depthwise direction of the interior, the rail to bear a lug that is made of ferromagnetic material and that faces toward the rear wall of the interior; and a magnet mounted on the rear wall of the interior, the magnet to exhibit an attractive magnetic force; wherein, in a retracted stop position of the telescopic pull-out assembly, the lug is subjected to the attractive magnetic force of the magnet.
 11. The domestic appliance of claim 10, wherein the lug is embodied as a single part with the rail.
 12. The domestic appliance of claim 10, further comprising a cover panel of the rail, wherein the lug is part of the cover panel.
 13. The domestic appliance of claim 10, wherein, in a stop position of the lug, the lug is separated from the magnet by an air gap.
 14. The domestic appliance of claim 10, wherein the telescopic pull-out assembly has an elastic buffer that limits the freedom of movement of the rail.
 15. The domestic appliance of claim 10, wherein the telescopic pull-out assembly supports a pull-out drawer.
 16. The domestic appliance of claim 15, wherein the pull-out drawer has a back wall, and wherein the lug projects beyond the back wall of the pull-out drawer toward the rear wall of the interior.
 17. The domestic appliance of claim 15, further comprising an icemaker to make ice, wherein the pull-out drawer is arranged beneath the icemaker in order to collect the ice made by the icemaker.
 18. The domestic appliance of claim 17, further comprising a switch that is actuated by the pull-out drawer, the switch to control operation of the icemaker. 